A fire can spin out of control in an instant—and the heroes that battle them need to make critical decisions in a matter of seconds. 

“Firefighter survival skills are very important to what we do for the safety of our firefighters. Obviously one firefighter getting hurt is too many,” said Depew Fire Department Training Chief Brian Musielak.

This weekend, a flashover training is being held in Depew for fire departments across the area. According to Paul Melfi, the training coordinator for the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, because of synthetics and plastics being used, everything heats up rapidly. A room with a fire, for example, can give off flammable gasses and ignite in an explosive manner. He wants firefighters to understand what could occur leading up to the flashover. 

“We take them out into a container; it’s called a flashover container. It’s sort of a laboratory setting. The students actually get in the container and they watch fire behavior all the way to this explosive event. We’re trying to teach them the signs and symptoms of fire behavior,” added Paul Melfi of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs.

This training is critical to prepare firefighters for what could occur in real-life situations. 

“This training that we’re doing right now is very important to the progress of our firefighters, especially our newer firefighters, so they can get more hands-on training and realize what they’re going to encounter,” said Musielak.